Prophetic Insight Requires Prophetic Humility
For centuries, American and British Protestantism used the Book of Revelation to expose the flaws of others—pointing at Rome, the papacy, or foreign empires as the embodiment of the Beast. This framing fueled revolutions, justified independence movements, and birthed a sense of divine exceptionalism. But as global power shifts, and nations like the U.S. become central in narrative control, military dominance, and global policy enforcement, the mirror of Revelation reflects uncomfortably close.
What if the mouth of the Beast is not just a warning about others, but a sobering call to self-examination?
Revelation doesn’t merely call us to identify the Beast outside—it warns us about the seduction of power within. And when the church is more concerned with being right than being humble, it risks becoming a servant of the system it was meant to resist.
The answer is not blame, nor fear, but mutual confession of sin.
Not just personal sins—but institutional, national, and historical ones.
Confessing where we've loved control more than grace.
Where we've used God’s name to build our own kingdoms.
Where we've silenced truth in the name of order.
Only through confession can we break agreement with the spirit of the age.
Only through humility can we hear the Lamb’s voice above the lion’s roar.
Mutual confession of sin is one of the most powerful safeguards against the Diotrephes spirit and one of the clearest expressions of the Spirit's fire among God’s people. Where leaders and members alike humble themselves before one another, openly acknowledging their faults and need for grace, the power structures that feed pride, control, and fear are broken. The ground is leveled at the cross.
Confession opens space for the Holy Spirit to work because it clears out the pride and pretense that often hinder His movement. It's in this vulnerability—this honest recognition that we are all in need—that the Spirit finds room to breathe, to renew, to convict, and to heal. A culture of confession fosters humility, empathy, and trust, replacing rivalry and suspicion with brotherhood and sisterhood. It’s hard to dominate someone you're confessing to. It’s hard to cast out someone whose sin you've helped carry to the cross.
When church leaders model confession, they invite the entire body into the light. But when leaders resist this posture—when they present themselves as above reproach or beyond correction—they create a culture where sin festers in darkness, and the Spirit is quenched by the weight of unacknowledged brokenness.
So mutual confession is not just a corrective to prideful leadership—it’s a return to the very heart of Pentecost, where people were cut to the heart, cried out for mercy, and received the Spirit in power. It’s the posture through which revival can actually take root.
